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December 5, 2024
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently announced that a federal jury in Texas awarded $2.17 million to Sarah Budd, who most recently worked as a Parts Clerk for SkyWest Airlines, on allegations of sex discrimination. The verdict included $2 million in punitive damages and $170,000 for emotional harm.
The EEOC alleged that Budd repeatedly was subjected to sexual harassment, including crude sexual comments, jokes, gestures, and mimed assaults. Multiple coworkers and at least one manager allegedly made explicit comments about Budd’s body, speculated about what sexual positions she may enjoy, suggested or requested that Budd perform demeaning sex acts with them, and suggested that she engage in prostitution while on business trips. Budd’s coworkers also allegedly made light of rape, suggested engaging in rape, or argued that rape victims were lying for attention.
Budd complained to her supervisor, who allegedly told Budd that, if he took action based on her complaints, it was likely to make matters worse.
The alleged conduct forced Budd to take an unpaid leave of absence. She returned from leave and continued to witness upsetting gestures and hear sexual jokes and comments about rape. The continued behavior caused Budd to cry in the workplace bathroom and led her to request a part-time schedule (a request that SkyWest denied).
After Budd complained to Employee Relations and identified a number of coworkers who had engaged in the misconduct, SkyWest put Budd on paid administrative leave and interviewed some employees. At the conclusion of the investigation, Employee Relations recommended formal discipline for a few employees and sexual harassment training for all employees.
Budd remained on administrative leave for five months in 2020 (SkyWest claims that the investigation was delayed due to COVID-19) with no updates from Employee Relations. When Budd inquired about the investigation, SkyWest told her that she could not return to work until employees received the sexual harassment training.
Budd ultimately felt compelled to resign – taking a COVID-19 voluntary early retirement option that included travel benefits but not continued income – because SkyWest failed to bring her back to work or give a reasonably specific date on which she could expect to return safely.
After hearing all of the evidence, the Texas jury returned a unanimous verdict for Budd, agreeing that she experienced physical illness and intense mental anguish as a result of her work environment. They found that SkyWest’s investigation was not complete, its discipline was superficial, and that it cancelled the sexual harassment training after Budd retired, deciding that the training no longer was necessary. The jury however, did not believe that SkyWest had retaliated against Budd following her complaints.
The verdict was reduced to $300,000 based on Title VII’s statutory caps.
The case is EEOC v SkyWest Airlines, Inc., No. 3:22-cv-01807 (N.D. Tex.).
Employers: You have a duty to investigate complaints of discrimination and sexual harassment. That investigation must be thoughtful and thorough and you must take prompt remedial action, if necessary. Here, Budd’s supervisor’s response to her complaint was woefully insufficient. And, though the Employee Relations Manager conducted an investigation, it was not sufficient to uncover the full extent of the harassment and SkyWest failed to follow through on the Manager’s recommendations. Don’t make the same mistakes.
*Special thanks to Nella Venella, our paralegal, for her contributions to this article.
The author of this article, Patricia Tsipras, is a member of the Bar of Pennsylvania. This article is designed to provide one perspective regarding recent legal developments, and is not intended to serve as legal advice in Pennsylvania, Texas, or any other jurisdiction, nor does it establish an attorney-client relationship with any reader of the article where one does not exist. Always consult an attorney with specific legal issues.
